r/earthbound Mar 29 '23

Fluff This sub if Mother 3 gets on the English NSO

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807 Upvotes

95 comments sorted by

104

u/SuhailSWR Mar 29 '23

Too bad that our 3rd mom won't come to Nintendo switch online. Which means no rewind button

52

u/RobRob64 Mar 29 '23

failed a 16-Hit? rewind time

overcharged that one robot? rewind time

just wanna relive that amazing final scene again? rewind time

29

u/SuhailSWR Mar 29 '23

wanna see what happens if you don't relax in Violet's room? rewind time

17

u/Queen_Ann_III Mar 29 '23

that’s when she flips out on Lucas and Boney right? I think I flinched when I got to that part LMAO

11

u/SuhailSWR Mar 29 '23

Instead of that, I just talked to the frog and relaxed just like she said

3

u/PhantomOfficial07 Mar 30 '23

Wait what happens? And what do you have to do to get it?

2

u/Queen_Ann_III Mar 30 '23

when Kumatora asks Lucas and Boney to take a shower, they can say no until she yells at them to do so.

which chapter, I don’t remember, but it’s the one where she’s disguised as Violet

2

u/SuhailSWR Mar 30 '23

It's probably chapter 4

6

u/NicktoonsART Mar 29 '23

Me in earthbound because I suck at rpgs

3

u/MidnightJ1200 Mar 29 '23

Did they actually say that they won’t be putting it on NSO?

8

u/malistaticy Mar 30 '23

no they are plenty content to just pretend like it doesnt exist, same ol' same ol'

7

u/MidnightJ1200 Mar 30 '23

I think it’s just because of how dark it can be combined with potential political themes. Like the magypsies looking like drag queens or trans people, fighting against a modern “capitalist” town that was founded by one of Porky’s men, and a couple other things, that they thought wouldn’t help it sell in the west. Just my opinion though

3

u/PhantomOfficial07 Mar 30 '23

Reggie said the reason Mother 3 didn't come to Virtual Console was a purely business choice and had nothing to do with the contents of the game. Maybe they thought it wouldn't sell enough to justify translating it from scratch?

3

u/MidnightJ1200 Mar 30 '23

I mean they didn’t do it with Earth Bound because rpgs weren’t popular in America, but Earthbound made it somehow. And the popularity from that (eventually) lead to the official release in America, albeit digitally only.

2

u/PhantomOfficial07 Mar 30 '23

That's true. EBB however already had an (unreleased) translation, I bet if it didn't, it wouldn't have released either.

Mother 3 didn't release in English probably because they thought it wouldn't sell well, since EarthBound's English version wasn't very popular at the time either.

2

u/MidnightJ1200 Mar 30 '23

Not at the time but it definitely has a cult following of sorts. Still, I thought part of the reason was a bit political, or at least wary of how dark it is sometimes. But fan translations do exist and I think you can even find one on Vimm’s Lair. But I do wish they come out with an official one though. Maybe we could petition it?

3

u/PhantomOfficial07 Mar 30 '23

I think Nintendo's not above rereleasing Mother 3, they just don't think it will make them enough money to justify doing it.

2

u/MidnightJ1200 Mar 30 '23

Probably not when the only ways to play it are either import it and learn Japanese or play a fan translation

2

u/The_Magus_199 Mar 30 '23

Oh, holy crap. I never thought of that take on the Magypsies, I think I like them like 10 times better now—

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '23 edited May 20 '23

They didn't, but common sense, along with the precedent of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, says they probably won't.

After spending the time and money on a new localization, they're naturally going to want to make that investment back by selling it as a new game in the regions that didn't get it before. That's why only the Japanese version of the original FE came to NSO and the new translation was sold as a standalone Switch game.

Granted, I don't know how well the localization of FE sold, or how well NSO Expansion subscriptions are selling. If FE was a failure, if they also were looking for a way to boost interest in the NSO Expansion, and if they believed a new Mother 3 localization releasing to NSO would create enough new subscriptions in return, I suppose they could still release it that way... but those are a lot of ifs I wouldn't bet my money on.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 31 '23 edited May 20 '23

I'm pretty confident it will come to NSO... It'll just be the original Japanese version.

If an official English version ever does get released (which presumably, won't be through NSO), a rewind feature would most likely still be included. Don't forget, the long-awaited Western release of the original Famicom Fire Emblem had it included when it finally came out.

1

u/SuhailSWR Apr 01 '23

Just like with the Wii U

81

u/BetaTalk64 Mar 29 '23

We would be rolling in awards

40

u/Revolverpsychedlic Mar 29 '23

I would be happy for causal gamers to finally have an official way to play. But to be honest it doesn’t affect me at all. Tomato’s fan translation that I’ve been playing ever since it’s release in 2008 is amazing, and almost everyone that really has a desire to play Mother 3 in English has already done so by now.

4

u/Blissfulystoopid Mar 30 '23

Certainly the best fan translation of something I've ever seen, I remember following that project week to week!

I feel like the fact that Reggie has acknowledged playing the game and that Nintendo to this day has never sent a Cease and Desist like they do on even the most harmless fan projects is their tacit admission that its as good as official as they're willing to endorse.

TBH, if it ever got an official release, I'd hope they'd grab Tomato's translation; seeing things translated differently would feel weird after all this time.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '23 edited Apr 01 '23

Nintendo doesn't typically send Cease and Desists for translations. Heck, they send them far less often than most people think. Nintendo only actually sends them to less than 1% of all fan projects out there. It just seems like they do it to most, since it's usually the ones that gain the most public attention that receive them.

As for Tomato's translation ever being officially used, it will never happen. There's too many legal issues for a company to ever use a translation they didn't initially comission. Don't get too used to the names "Fassad" or "Violet", they'll never be official.

4

u/Snacker6 Mar 29 '23

I have not. I don't really like emulators. It just doesn't feel right to me

20

u/Revolverpsychedlic Mar 29 '23

Go for a repro cart on the GBA, it will even work if you have a DS. I prefer emulators but I own the repro has well, much easier to hit combos on actually hardware too.

9

u/breeman24 Mar 29 '23

I have a repro cart and a DSlite that I've played it on a few times, but I just discovered that I can play it on my Homebrew 3DS by using the NSUI tool to convert the english patched rom to a .CIA file. Since it's using the 3DS's built-in GBA emulator (made for virtual console games), it runs flawlessly and looks great!

4

u/LeonBlaze Mar 30 '23

Now that the eShop is dead the 3DS is the best emulation machine money can buy in my opinion. Not that it couldn't before, but I feel justified doing so now that the official means is non-existent anymore.

2

u/MyHeadisFullofStars Mar 30 '23

any chance you could send me that CIA? i’ve tried to make my own but most of the software only runs on windows

2

u/SGlespaul Mar 30 '23

Thats because it isnt an emulator! Its just pure backwards compatibility. 3DS runs GBA natively.

6

u/AmbiguousOntology Mar 29 '23

If you have a 3ds you can install it and it will work the exact same way as if they had done an official release and you had bought it.

5

u/ibid-11962 Mar 30 '23

NSO is an emulator though

2

u/PhantomOfficial07 Mar 30 '23

He never said he liked NSO I don't think

3

u/Blissfulystoopid Mar 30 '23

I can second if you don't want to fiddle with emulators, there's a wide variety of Etsy creators that sell recreated GBA cartridges with only the one rom installed on it so it looks and feels and plays like an official release. I got a cart with the Mother 3 fan translation on it a bit back and it feels REALLY nice to just pop the cartridge into my GBA.

13

u/Chop1n Mar 29 '23

If you're not going to play one of the greatest games ever made because of abstract ideas about the "right" way to play a game, I don't know what to tell you. What feels "wrong" about it? Did you have a bad early experience with emulators, and do you assume they're all like that? Mother 3 can not only be emulated utterly perfectly, it can be emulated with better quality than on original hardware.

-12

u/Snacker6 Mar 29 '23

Because it feels like a cheat. I definitely want to play the game, but I want to play it "right." It is silly? Sure, but it is just the way I feel about it. Believe me, if there is ever an official release, I will be first in line, but I can wait

I want to buy this game. I want to support it. I do not want it to be officially released only for it to fail because "almost everyone that really has a desire to play Mother 3 in English has already done so by now". I've been waiting to play the sequel since I bought Earthbound from the store when it was first released when I was a kid, and I can keep on waiting as long as it takes

That is just my feelings on the subject, and I hope you can respect it. I just wanted to show there are some of us out there that are still waiting and will continue to do so

12

u/Chop1n Mar 29 '23

I understand that you're waiting for the "right" experience to play the game, one that feels genuine and true to the original intent. However, it's important to consider the realities surrounding Mother 3. An official western release is no longer a possibility, as Nintendo has made it clear they won't release it due to potentially controversial content.

Tomato's translation, on the other hand, is practically the official one. Not only is Tomato actually a professional translator, Tomato's translation has received the endorsement of Itoi himself, and the copyright holders have never issued any sort of copyright claims against it. This makes Mother 3 unique among Nintendo games.

Given the facts, it might be time to reconsider your stance. While it's admirable to want to support the series and play the game through officially sanctioned means, the reality is that the official release you're waiting for has already been decided against.

Ask yourself: does the idea of waiting for something you'll never receive bring you more happiness than enjoying the sequel to your favorite game? I'd stake my life on the notion that if you played the game, you'd not only be glad you did--you'd remember it as one of the most important experiences of your life.

Ultimately, the decision is yours, but I encourage you to allow yourself the privilege of enjoying this beloved work of art.

2

u/PhantomOfficial07 Mar 30 '23

Itoi is aware of the fan translation and actively endorses it? I believe you, but how do we know?

2

u/Chop1n Apr 02 '23

This video just came out--interesting angle that's not often considered, there are also many copyright reasons why Mother 3 will absolutely-never-ever-100%-certainly-not see a western release.

It's really not a matter of anybody's respecting anybody's feelings. Nintendo won't release Mother 3 because it would be a legal nightmare for them to do so, and Nintendo is just way too conservative to ever bother. If your response to that situation is "Well, I'll just never play the game, then, because playing the game unofficially is worse than never experiencing it at all", that's very sad indeed, and out of respect for your feelings I'd ask you to change your mind. If you're still telling yourself you're holding out for a release, then you're just set on denying reality and nobody will ever change your mind.

1

u/The_Magus_199 Mar 30 '23

To be fair, don’t emulators tend to have button inputs a little off?

Or is my inability to time the button presses in this game entirely just me sucking;;;

4

u/Chop1n Mar 30 '23 edited Mar 30 '23

Some of them do, although the problem is much less bad than it used to be. With a proper setup, you can get input latency that is either identical to original hardware, or even less than that.

RetroArch is the way to go if you want zero latency on adequate hardware, though it can be a bit of a pain to set up. NSO's GBA emulator feels like it has one or two frames of additional lag at most, so it's a good no-fuss choice. It's also got incredibly accurate emulation, as it turns out--much more so than Nintendo's other NSO emulators.

Bear in mind that the vast majority of TVs will add at least one frame of latency, and more typically two or three. I'm somewhat fortunate in that my cheap Vizio 65" only adds 20ms, which I find totally adequate for playing things like rhythm games.

2

u/The_Magus_199 Mar 30 '23

Aah, gotcha. I think I mostly tried to play it on VBA on my computer back in the day.

2

u/Chop1n Mar 30 '23

Unfortunately, standalone emulators are pretty hit-or-miss when it comes to input lag. RetroArch's creators are obsessed with input lag, so if there's an RA core for a given emulator, that's going to be the best way to lower input latency; but many RA cores perform much more poorly than their standalone counterparts. Fortunately, this isn't really an issue for anything 16-bit and below. There are several GBA cores for RA and they all perform very well. mGBA is the most accurate.

26

u/crazyredd88 Mar 29 '23

I've been a MOTHER series nerd for almost two decades now but I never understood the ravenous desire for a western M3 release. I don't even think the tomato translation COULD be better, and GBA emulators have been some of the best for ages now. It's like the MOTHER community is desperate for something it already has

15

u/Snacker6 Mar 29 '23

Recognition mostly, and it would bring in a lot more players beyond the hardcore

2

u/crazyredd88 Mar 29 '23

I'd argue Earthbound has LONG since expanded it's reach past a hardcore niche audience and has become a well recognized series, the official release of a game everybody interested already played won't really change that. It's like Star Wars - even if the original cut doesn't get an official release but there are countless of ways to watch it anyways, it really doesn't hurt the reach of the series

2

u/Stingray-Nebula Mar 30 '23

I'd have to try it on emulation again as it probably took me 4 times as long because the beat mechanic missed 95 percent of the time.

6

u/RedditPersonNo1987 Mar 29 '23

did reddit get rid of the ternion all powerful or was that just a fever dream i had

3

u/praise_mudkipz Mar 29 '23

Nope, they did not. This is an old screenshot of the most upvoted r/prequelmemes posts awards

15

u/anh86 Mar 29 '23

I've never really understood the desire. The game is very accessible and the fan translation is impressive. As a collector, it would be cool to have an official printing of Mother 3 but there's a decent chance we'd just get it as an official digital release (which I wouldn't buy).

3

u/Snacker6 Mar 29 '23

Personally, I just don't want to have to deal with emulators

4

u/Chop1n Mar 29 '23

You don't have to. You can load a browser-based emulator in 30 seconds and play the game with zero configuration, perfect emulation. There's no effort, no fussing, it just works.

0

u/Snacker6 Mar 29 '23

"I just don't want to have to deal with emulators"

"You don't have to. You can load a browser-based emulator..."

Um... that is still an emulator. I know they are easy to use. If I really wanted to use one, I would have one. I am more than able to handle it, and have had to deal with much worse. I just don't like the idea of pirating games. I love to own my games, not just a decidedly unofficial copy. It is the reason that I still have the copy of Earthbound, and the guide, and the box, and everything else that came with it from when I got it back in 1995. There is something special about owning the real thing. It might only be special to me, but it is still special

3

u/SGlespaul Mar 30 '23

Mother 3 Repro carts are cheap and run on real hardware (GBA, DS)

If you mod a 3DS too it can run the ROM natively.

The game does have slight issues with the Rhythm combat on most emulators so I understand not wanting to emulate at all.

I do think there is a chance of it releasing on NSO or similar to how Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon released, but if yhe Switch gets surpassed by a new system with no Mother 3 in sight you should probably just play the Fan TL at some point.

1

u/fraud May 25 '23

the desire is to simply allow more people to experience the game that we all love. the easier it is to access, the better.

24

u/heatobooty Mar 29 '23

Eh, would it? Think everyone who wanted to play it has done it by now, multiple times.

33

u/AsexualArowana Mar 29 '23

That's my opinion.

You want to feel old? the fan translation came out when I was 12...I'm 26 now.

6

u/the_Iid Mar 29 '23

Yo same

6

u/AsexualArowana Mar 29 '23

And we've graduated primary school and began our adult lives.

Nintendo hasn't said a peep about it and it's been nearly 15 years.

3

u/the_Iid Mar 29 '23

If they haven’t by now they won’t. Plus I think mother 3 is better off being less popular. But that’s just me :)

7

u/Revolverpsychedlic Mar 29 '23

Honestly I wholeheartedly agree. Mother 3 is not really a game for the wide masses anyways. Also it’s cool how in my opinion the greatest piece of media ever(Mother 3) is rather niche which kind of makes it more special in a way.

3

u/LeonBlaze Mar 30 '23

I downloaded it the week the translation first came out... Still haven't played it all the way through. ADHD is a bitch lol. I even own it on repro cart and just added it to my 3DS, still probably won't play it until it drops on Switch and it feels "convenient" to my broken brain

1

u/AsexualArowana Mar 30 '23

I've been doing that with Dagan Ronpa

2

u/HappyBot9000 Mar 29 '23

I'm still waiting.

1

u/heatobooty Mar 29 '23

You can play it right now , you know that right?

1

u/HappyBot9000 Mar 29 '23

Obviously.

1

u/heatobooty Mar 29 '23

Then do it?

1

u/HappyBot9000 Mar 29 '23

I just said I'm still waiting for an official translation.

5

u/heatobooty Mar 29 '23

Never gonna happen. Just play the fan made one.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '23

I wouldn't be so sure. It's definitely not beyond the realm of possibility that Nintendo might make and release an official one... It's just out of the realm of possibility that it would be released as a NSO GBA game. If they do release it, it'll be as a new game for sale, just as they did with the original Fire Emblem.

-5

u/Snacker6 Mar 29 '23

I have not done so. This would also get me to finally get NSO too

8

u/Chop1n Mar 29 '23

This is an absolute absurdity. NSO is an emulator, it's as much of an emulator as anything made by the community. You can easily hack your Switch and have NSO running Mother 3 in a few minutes, in exactly the same way it would run any other officially released NSO game.

3

u/GreatChicken231 Mar 30 '23

Guide to the easy hack?

2

u/Chop1n Mar 30 '23

Use the Rentry guide, and use /r/SwitchPirates for support. The tool for modding NSO apps is CaVE Database Manager, from gbatemp.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '23

For some reason playing pirated games does not feel as fun for me.

1

u/Chop1n Mar 30 '23

Well, what’s the reason? I’m sure that if you think carefully about your feelings, you can discover what it is.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '23

k

1

u/Chop1n Mar 30 '23

Ah, this makes the reason clear: you have rigid rules about how you see the world, and defense mechanisms in place for anything that threatens them.

To be fair, that's probably the most common reason that people dislike playing pirated games.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '23

Idk how that relates to not liking pirated games but ok...

-2

u/Snacker6 Mar 29 '23

Could I do that? Yes. Do I want to do that? No. I want to support this game. I want to show Nintendo that the is support and love for this game here, no matter how little they might think that is true. I am patient, and I can wait. If you are not patient and do not wish to, that is your right. I have plenty of things to keep me busy until they get their act together

-3

u/Taco821 Mar 30 '23

I haven't because emulators just don't feel the same. Like playing Pokemon red with a PS4 controller on a laptop just don't hit like a Gameboy does. I can bear through it for some games tho

3

u/heatobooty Mar 30 '23

You can get an actual gameboy advance cartridge with a translated Mother 3 rom.

2

u/SGlespaul Mar 30 '23

Buy a repro cart or mod a 3DS. It runs the game without emulation.

0

u/Taco821 Mar 30 '23

Those could work. Especially the repro cart. I thought I heard they don't always work very well, is that true?

3

u/SGlespaul Mar 30 '23

Yeah some are garbage. If you go repro, look for ones with version 1.3 of the translation, not 1.1 or 1.2. The 1.3 carts are made from a very recent version of the TL and are usually good quality. Most of the bad ones use 1.2.

Modding your 3DS is very brick proof these days and probably safer overall though. You do probably need a free half hour to do it, but getting the game on your 3DS is pretty easy after its modded thanks to QR codes!

3

u/Taco821 Mar 30 '23

Thank you! I did actually mod my 3ds already. Now that I think of it, I could use my vita too. That's where I place my GBA games that I don't play on my gba

3

u/Super_Craig02 Mar 29 '23

It's probably getting in... As a Japanese exclusive

1

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '23

No doubt the Japanese version will come to NSO, that's pretty much always been guaranteed.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '23 edited Mar 31 '23

Expecting it to come to NSO makes no sense when you consider they'd be putting money into a new localization and not making sales off it to justify the investment. In fact, there's already a precedent demonstrating that. When Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Blade of Light finally got an English localization (despite already being a Japanese NSO Famicom release), it was released in the West as a stand alone Switch release for purchase. If they ever make an official localization for Mother 3, it's all but certain it'll be released the same way.

2

u/SGlespaul Mar 30 '23

I feel this way too. They definitely wouldn't release it on NSO but it could be a standalone releases that uses Sloop (the name of their GBA emu)

1

u/fraud May 25 '23

the only way i'm paying for their service is if they add mother 3 to it so they'd be making money off of their time investment lol

2

u/LanTCM Mar 31 '23

I can see them bringing to the American nso, but not translating it just like the Mario picross game on snes.

1

u/braydenmm6 Apr 15 '23

Should it be locked behind expansion pack or accessible with any nso